Square For Retail Now Available on Register; Shopify and Blackbaud Report Earnings: News Roundup

PaymentFacilitator’s News Roundup is a curated mix of the past week’s news and articles from around the web, including company announcements, global payments news, and other coverage and analysis of topics relevant to payment facilitators.

PF Quarterly Earnings

Blackbaud announces strong finish for 2019. The company reports a profitable fourth quarter with a total GAAP revenue increase of 7.5% to $237.8 million – with recurring GAAP revenue accounting for 92.4% of the total GAAP revenue at $219.8 million. And for the year, total GAAP revenue was up 6.1% to $900.4 million, with GAAP recurring revenue accounting for 92.4% of the total GAAP revenue at $831.6 million. “Our strong performance in the fourth-quarter allowed us to achieve our full year financial guidance and exceed the mid-point of our ranges for revenue and earnings per share.” From Blackbaud.

Shopify reports profitable Q4 and “milestone year.” The global brand announces a 47% increase in both total revenue and gross merchandise volume (GMV) for the fourth quarter of 2019. Gross payments volume for the quarter also increased to $8.9 billion (from $5.8 billion) and accounted for a record 43% of total GMV. “We’ve earned the trust of more than one million merchants, and we are motivated more than ever to keep lowering the learning curve so anyone, anywhere can become an entrepreneur.” From Shopify.

Digital Download

Innoviti in favor of Zero MDR. India’s qualified removal of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) has been a point of contention for some in the payments landscape due to their dependency on the recurring revenue it provides. But according to Innoviti MD and CEO Rajeev Agrawal, the company has seen a positive impact in their gross margins as a result of the digital incentive and he feels the strategy is justified. “In a direct transfer, there is no reason why there should be a markup because it is only technology playing and there is no risk.” From ET BFSI.

RBI continues push towards digital with DPI. In an effort to continue driving digital as the payment method of choice, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed plans for a Digital Payments Index (DPI). The DPI will offer comprehensive data on the penetration of digital payments in the local ecosystem and the impact it’s fostering. The current launch date is set for July 2020. From Deccan Herald.

Big Brands Doing Big Things

WhatsApp Pay gets permission to expand. The Facebook-owned app’s payments arm has received permission from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to expand its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) pilot to 10 million users. The global brand has been struggling with obtaining a license in India since 2018 and had previously been approved for a 1-million-user pilot. From The Economic Times.